California School Dashboard

State's accountability system

California has a website designed to help communities across the state access important information about K–12 districts and schools. Called the California School Dashboard, the site features easy-to-read reports on multiple measures of school success:
* High School Graduation Rate (does not apply to MVWSD)
* Academic Performance
* Suspension Rate
* English Learner Progress
* Preparation for College/Career (does not apply to MVWSD)
* Chronic Absenteeism

The Dashboard is part of California's new school accountability system based on 2013's Local Control Funding Formula. The new system, which replaces the old API score that parents are familiar with, will evaluate schools and districts in 8 areas critical to student performance, including graduation rates, readiness for college and careers, test scores, and progress of English learners.

To learn more about California's accountability and continuous improvement efforts, visit the CDE Dashboard Web page.

What's different?
In the past, accountability systems for districts and schools relied solely on test scores. But one test taken on one particular day doesn't provide a complete picture of all the ways schools are helping students succeed. The Dashboard provides information on different aspects of student performance, which will give a more complete picture of a school’s progress. The Dashboard also reports on growth to show a school’s trajectory over time.
There are three key concepts to the development of the Dashboard. First, the California School Dashboard is comprised of multiple measures and does not rely exclusively on test scores. Second, the dashboard focuses on equity and includes detailed data about student and school performance broken down into sub-groups of students. And third, the Dashboard supports local decision-making by making data easy to understand for schools and communities and supports the existing Local Control Funding Formula and Local Control Accountability Plans for each school district.

Why a new system and new tool?
The Dashboard is a key part of California's commitment to transparency and continuous improvement. California's future success depends on tapping into the potential of all students, so they graduate ready for college, careers and life. For schools to reach this goal, teachers, parents and the community need clear and useful measures of progress. As an accountability tool, the Dashboard will help the state identify schools (including charter schools) and districts needing targeted assistance. Additionally, the Dashboard will help Districts and schools identify areas of strength and target areas that need additional support.

What does it look like?

The Dashboard shows the performance levels using the color-coded symbols.

Users can choose from four different reports by selecting tabs underneath the demographic information

Equity Report - Shows the performance level of all students on state indicators.
* Shows the total number of student groups that are large enough to receive a performance level on each state indicator.
* The number of total student groups may differ across indicators due to the grade levels applicable for each indicator.
* Shows the number of those student groups in the Red or Orange performance levels.
* Quick overview of overall performance and whether any student groups are struggling on the state indicators.

Status and Change Report
* Shows the performance level for each state indicator and the current performance (Status) and difference from past performance (Change) that resulted that in that performance.

Detailed Reports
* Show year-by-year data for the state indicators and additional state data that is relevant to the state indicators.

Student Group Reports
* Show the performance of all students and each student group on the state indicators.

How does this Dashboard relate to the District's LCAP (Local Control Accountability Plan)?

The Dashboard shows how a district or school is performing by indicator and by student group. The district and school leaders, staff members, families, and community stakeholders will be able to use the dashboard and the rubrics to help determine which LCAP actions are having the biggest impact and which need to be revised for better results.

The LCAP outlines how the district plans to support student achievement, and how it is using its financial resources to get results. The plan must address the state’s identified eight priorities or areas — both inside and outside of the classroom — that impact student achievement. With the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), school districts receive a base amount of funding for each student, and additional funding for students identified as low-income, English learner, and/or foster youth.

What’s next?

The Dashboard is deliberately designed to be a work in progress: Metrics and reports will be added over time.
While schools are making progress in many key areas there is always more work to do. The Dashboard is part of an ongoing conversation with our community on both how we're doing and how we can do better.

How is this different from the old API?

The new accountability system replaces the outdated Academic Performance Index (API), which relied almost exclusively on test scores to measure progress. Accountability is a key element of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), approved by the Legislature in 2013, which provides more local control over revenues and more resources for students with the greatest needs. Among the LCFF priorities are student achievement, student engagement, school climate, and parent engagement.

How the new system will differ from the old API:

The new “evaluation rubric” provides a tool for holding schools and districts accountable for the eight state priorities identified in the Local Control Funding Formula

It won’t be an evaluation based on a single number. Parents, educators, and the public will be able to look at a variety of areas to tell how their school is doing.

The new system provides multiple ongoing measures of school performance instead of the single, one-item snapshot from the prior system.

Schools are rated based on a combination of measures and assigned one of five performance levels. From highest to lowest, the categories are: Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, and Red. The performance standards are based on how each school or district fared last year, and how much they have improved or declined in the past three years.